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SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) – More than 5,000 young drivers between 15 and 20 are killed in car crashes each year in the U.S. The Tire Rack Street Survival Program is trying to reduce those numbers by teaching teens skills they need to avoid accidents by learning the right way to steer, brake and get out of skids.

Tire Rack Street Survival National Program Manager Bill Wade said most of these fatal accidents are caused due to lack of experience in specific scenarios. “They’re not getting the skills that they need through the regular types of driver education whether it’s in their high schools or a commercial type venture,” he explained.

Wade summarized the program saying, “What Street Survival does is uses real-world-type conditions on exercises working on a skidpad working in accident avoidance maneuvers doing a lot of emergency braking exercises to let the student know exactly what their car is going to do.”

Underscoring the importance of the specialized training Wade said, “It takes about five years of average driving to become an average driver and what we’re trying to do is to shorten that time period to give the new drivers the skills they need because you can’t wait five years to learn how to control a skid if you happen to get into one your first winter especially in Michigan.”

Their group will be in Melvindale on Saturday May, 18 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. at Faith Christian Assembly Church on Outer Drive. The cost of the program is $75.